Sectional ladders



1957 K. R. BEILHARTZ SECTIONAL LADDERS Filed June 8, 1955 IElEiL.

INVENTOR ]1'. JZ-Bez'lfiariz ATTORNEY United States Patent i SECTIONAL LADDERS Kenneth R. Beilhartz, Syracuse, Ind.; Mary M. Beilhartz, administratrix of said Kenneth R. Beilhartz, deceased Application June 8, 1953, Serial No. 360,130

1 Claim. (Cl. 228-2) This invention relates to sectional ladders and relates more particularly to a ladder of the type which comprises sections each having stiles and rungs, the ends of the stiles being notched and the upper rung being projected laterally beyond the stiles. When any two sections of such a ladder are assembled, the upper notches of the lower section receive the lower rung of the upper section, and the lower notches of said upper section receive the projecting ends of the upper rung of said lower section.

It is the principal object of the present invention to make novel provision whereby any two of the ladder sections may be efiectively connected in crossed relation to form a trestle for supporting a scafiold board or the like.

Another object of the invention is to simply form the stiles of the sections with properly located bolt holes to receive ordinary bolts for solidly connecting the sections in crossed relation.

A further object is to provide a construction which will fully expose the upper notches of the two crossed ladder sections when assembled to form a trestle, thereby making said notches available for the reception of a yoke to tie the upper ends of the two connected sections against spreading, thereby also holding the lower ends of said sections against spreading and thus preventing the trestle from collapsing when used on a floor or' the like.

With the above and other objects in view that will become apparent as the nature of the invention is better understood, the same consists in the novel form, combination and arrangement of par-ts hereinafter more fully described, shown in the accompanying drawing, and claimed.

In the drawing:

Fig. l is an edge view of one of the improved ladder sections; and all others are the same;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of one of the sections;

Fig. 3 is a side elevation showing four of the. sections assembled to provide two scafiold-board-supporting trestles, indicated in dotted lines that the above mentioned yokes may be used to support the scaffold board at the upper extremities of the trestles; and

Fig. 4 is a plan view of one form of yoke which may be used.

In the drawing above briefly described, each ladder section 5 includes two stiles 6 each having a notch 7 in its upper end and a notch 8 in its lower end. The stiles are protected against splitting adjacent the notches 7 and 8 by means of the usual rivets 9. Conventional 2,804,250 Patented Aug. 27, 1957 rungs 10 are secured in the usual way to the stiles 6 and hold said stiles in such upwardly converging relation that the upper end of any section will fit snugly into the lower end of the next section. The ends 11 of the top rung project as usual beyond the stiles 6 for reception in the lower notches 8 of the next section, and the lower rung of the latter then fits into the cooperating notches 7.

In each stile 6 a bolt hole 12 is formed somewhat above the uppermost rung, preferably about 4" above said rung. The bolt hole is preferably 4" in diameter and the two holes of each ladder section are in axial alignment.

These bolt holes permit the use of two ordinary bolts 13 to connect two of the ladder sections 5 in crossed relation to form a trestle 14 (Fig. 3) and the upper notches 7 of said sections are then available to receive a suitable yoke. As this yoke will tie the upper ends of the two ladder sections against spreading, the lower ends of said sections will be similarly tied and the trestle cannot therefore collapse when used on a floor or the like.

As illustrative of one form ofyoke which may be used, a rectangular metal frame 15 is shown in Fig. 4, the side bars 16 of said frame being receivable in the notches 7. However, a length of chain, cable, or the like could be employed, or a wooden frame consisting of two side bars connected by two rungs.

In Fig. 3, two of the trestles 14 have been shown for supporting a scaffold board 17 upon any of the rungs 10. The yokes 15 may also support the board 17 at the extreme upper ends of the trestles if desired.

From the foregoing, it will be seen that although the improvement is of extreme simplicity it is nevertheless of great advantage, and while there is herein shown and described the preferred embodiment of the invention, it is to be understood that minor changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as claimed.

I claim:

A scaffold trestle comprising a pair of ladder sections each having two stiles and rungs connecting said stiles, the uppermost being downwardly spaced from the upper ends of said stiles, said stiles each having a bolt hole spaced slightly above said uppermost rung, the two bolt holes being axially aligned, said ladder sections being bolted to each other to form a trestle, said stiles each having an upwardly open notch in its upper end, the uppermost rungs projecting laterally of the stiles with the projecting rung ends of one ladder section engaging the side stiles of the other ladder section for limiting movements of the ends of the ladder sections towards each other, and a yoke member receivable in the notched upper ends of the side stiles to hold the ladder sections in fixed assembled relation.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 372,133 Eddy Oct. 25, 1887 1,068,849 Bishop July 29, 1913 2,372,003 Kennedy Mar. 20, 1945 V FOREIGN PATENTS 22,687 Great Britain of 1892 

